The Brookings Institute has released a report detailing the events of a recent roundtable in March 2011 designed to provide a clear roundmap of support for Egyptian civil society in a post-Mubarak era, by detailing the challenges civil society organizations currently face as well as the recommendations of key stakeholders.

The roundtable was divided into two sessions: the first focused on the role of civil society in political reform, democratization, and human rights, while the second focused on economic development and employment.

The summary notably stated that entrepreneurs should get involved:

"When addressing youth development, there must be a vision beyond employability and job creation that includes decent housing and other aspects of a lifestyle with dignity. The discussion also focused on the need to promote youth coalitions’ efforts to develop an agenda for proactive economic and political reform. Recommendations were made to reach out to young entrepreneurs, citing the positive results of youth-led enterprises and small business incubators as a successful mechanism for economic growth and youth civic engagement."

Key recommendations included:

I.    Coordinate: Support coordination efforts among Egyptian CSOs

- Provide technical support on networking and coalition building

- Strengthen linkages between different civil society actors

- Coordinate efforts in the US

II.    Scale-up: Support the scaling-up of successful existing models

- Support replication, technically and financially

- Support coalitions around relevant policy dialogues and reforms (medium to long-term):

III.    Sustain: Support sustainability & accountability of a vibrant Egyptian civil society

- Revise relevant donor strategies

- Support innovative and alternative means of local financing for CSO efforts

- Support civil society’s role as watchdog

- Organize study tours and exchanges for civil society leaders

- Support reform efforts of legal framework and bodies governing civil society

- Improve public awareness in media and support civic engagement in education

Download the event summary and the key recommendations to see the details of the roundtable results.